Method of manufacturing car-wheels.



l PATENTED JAN. 6, 1903. lII. C. BUHOUP & G. P. RITTER. METHOD 0FMANUFACTURING GAR WHEELS.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A-rPLmAtrIoN FILED SEPT. zo, 1902. No MODEL.

me Norms versus co.. Pl-moumowwAsHmmom o. c.

No. 717,538. PATENTBD JAN. 6, 1903. H. C. BUHoUT & G. P. RITTER.

METHOD 0E MANUFACTURING GAR WHEELS. ATPLIoATmN TTLED SEPT. 2o, 1902. NoMoDL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

u @La is UNTRD STATES ATRNT FFICE.

HARRY C. BUHOUP AND GILBERT P. RITTER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

METHOD or MANUFACTURING CAR-WHEELS.

:SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 717,538, dated J'anuary 6, 1903.

Applicationfiled September 20, 1902. Serial No. 124,245. (No model.) y

T0 all whom, it may concern.-

Be it known that we, HARRY C. BUHoUP and GILBERT P. R1TTnR,citizens ofthe United States, and residents of Chicago, in the county of Cook,State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMethods of Manufacturing Car-Wheels; and we hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such as willenable others skilled in the art to practice our invention.

Our invention relates to lthe manufacture of car-wheels, and especiallyto cast-steel car- Wheels, and has for its object the production ofcast-steel car-wheels having a condensed uniform tread.

To this end our invention, generally stated, comprises the several stepsof first Vcasting the Wheel with a diameter somewhat greater thandesired for the finished Wheel, next corrugating the tread of the wheelor indenting the same transversely, and finally rolling or otherwisereducing the diameter of the tread of the wheel by plain rolls or inlike mauner, whereby a wheel havinga uniformly-condensed tread isobtained.

In carrying outour invention any suitable character of devices adaptedto first corrugate or indent the tread of the Wheel and iinally compressand plain-finish the same may be employed-as, for instance, dies,rolls,` or rolling-dies; but for the purposes of this specification wehave selected oppositely-disposed bed-dies.

In the drawings accompanying this specification, Figure l is an endelevation of apparatus adapted for practicing our invention. Fig. 2 is avertical central section of the same. Fig. 3 is a View of the car-wheelas it passes from the corrugating or indenting devices and before it issubjected to the finishing devices, and Fig. 4 is a detached View of oneof the die-plates.

Like symbols refer tol like parts Wherever they occur. i

A indicates a suitable housing provided below with a bed B and'abovewith a platen C, the latter adaptedl to travel vertically in the housingand controlled by a housingscrew or like means for exerting pressure onthe platen. Journaled in the bed is a shaft b, provided with a pinionb', located within the bed, and at its end with a gear-wheel b2, and theplaten C is also provided with a like shaft c, having a pinion c' andgear-wheel c2, the gear-wheels b2 and c2 meshing with an intermediatepinion d, whereby the said shafts b and c and their pinions arereversely rotated from the power-pulley D and pinion d.

Upon the upper face of bed B and vertically above the same on the platenC are dovetail Ways or guides e e and ff, in which travel reciprocatingdie-plates E and F, said die-plates having on their bed-faces racks withwhich mesh the pinions b and c of the shafts b and c for causing thereverse travel of the die-plates F. and F. The operative faces of thedie-plates E and Fare provided With oppositely-disposed longitudinalgrooves, the cross-section of which corresponds to the cross-section ofthe flange and tread of a car- .wheel, which grooves are transverselyribbed at intervals for a portion of their length Where they correspondto the tread of the car-wheel, as from to 0c', and shallow gradually fora certain portion of' the remainder of the distance, as from to y',while that portion of the groove which corresponds to the flange of thewheel may also gradually shallow and narrow between a. and 'y' froln thesize of the Iiange of the casting to that ofthe nished wheel in order toforce any surplus metal from the flange' into the tread of the wheel.The length and relative proportion of the corrugated and the planeportions'of the groove of the die-plate will be determined by thediameter of the wheel and the extent to which it is desired to carrythev respective steps of the method. The length of the respectivedie-plates will preferably be multiples 0f the circumference of thewheel.

Centered with relation to the housing and the die-plates and supportedon the housings l or in other suitable manner are posts G, provided withguide slots or ways g to receive the ends of a mandrel H, which servesas the axis of rotation for the wheel under treatment.

I-I indicates a mandrel for the hub of the car-wheel blank, and h hclamps for confining the blank, the shaftjH being slotted at h andprovided with Wedge keys I or equivalent means for confining thecar-Wheel blank between the clamps and to the mandrel. |The IOO mandrelH, asbefore noted, serves as the axis ot' rotation ot' the blank whenacted on by the dies. If it is preferred to journal the ends of themandrel in xed boxes or pillowblocks in lieu of allowing them verticalmovement in the slots ot' the posts G, the bed B, as well as the platenC, will have to be constructed to travel vertically and the bed as Wellas the platen be provided with housingscrews in manner commonlypracticed in rolling-mills.

The above-noted 0r other suitable devices for the purpose having beenprovided, a caststeel car-wheel blank at substantially a rolling heat issecu red on the mandrel H between the clamps 7th, and the mandrel Hinserted inJthe slots g of post G, so that the periphery of the blank isin vertical alinenient with the grooves of the die-plates, saiddie-plates being drawn out to the extreme of their outward travel, sothat the leading ends of the ribbed portions approach the verticaldiameter of thewheel-blank. Thehousingscreworscrews are then manipulatedto cause the required rolling pressure of the dies ou the periphery ofthe car-wheel blank, and the machine being set in operation t0 cause thetravel of the dies the tread of the W-heel Will first be corrugated orindented transversely, and at the same time, if desired, the iiange maybe reduced, so as to turn any surplus metal into the tread of the wheel,when immediately following the transverse indentation or corrugation ofthe wheel-tread the said tread will be subjected to the plain faces cfthe dies, which will condense and finish the tread, reducing itsdiameter to that of the finished wheel. It will be noted that thecorrugations in the periphery of the blank or tread of the wheel inducethe condensation of the metal of the tread on substantially radial linesby the final plain rolling and finishing, as Well as limit the la teralor peripheral spread or drawing of the metal, and this is equally trueno matter how the corrugations are produced, Whether by casting,rolling, die-rolling, or forging; but corrugating by rolling ordie-rolling is deemed preferable, as productive of a more uniformcondensation in the tread of the iinished wheel or blank.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

The method herein described for manufacturing car-wheels, which consistsin first corrugating the tread of the Wheel-blank and finally condensingand finishing said tread, substantially as and for the purposes specied.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures, in presence of twowitnesses, this 13th day of September, 1902.

HARRY C. BUHOUP. GILBERT P. RITTER.

Witnesses:

EDWIN S. CLARKSON, JNO. Q. ADAMS.

